Road trip 2020 Advice needed

[Stan1805]

Our trip plans so far. Nothing booked so open to suggestions.
1. Fly to Vegas 4 nights
2. Fly to San Diego pick up hire car stay 4 nights.
3. Anaheim 2 nights.
4. North Hollywood ( Burbank ) 2/3 nights.
5. Solvang 1 night.
6. ? Stop for 1 night somewhere along PCH to break the journey from Solvang to Monterey.
7. Monterey 2 nights
8. San Francisco 4 nights then fly home.
Hoping to go in May and would prefer to drive in daylight hours if possible.
We are looking to do a coach trip one day from LV to Grand Canyon South rim and from SF to Yosemite.
Are we are trying to cram too much into our three weeks?
Would be grateful for any advice
Thanks

[cornishfrogboy]

That looks perfectly reasonable and achievable to me, although I cannot comment on Las Vegas as I have never been. I would personally consider the following...

1. I would increase San Diego by one day, taking it from San Francisco.
2. For your break, I would consider the Madonna Inn in San L Obispo (you will never forget it, I promise).
3. I would ditch your car on arrival at San Francisco Int on arrival and catch the BART into the City. You will not need a car in SFO and it will save you the car hire as well as the often horrendous car parking fees. You can then leave on the BART also.

Hoping it helps and you may pick up some ideas on my trippie, ‘California N to South at Easter’. It is all on one thread.

[Stan1805]

Thank you Cornishfrogboy. I will certainly look at your trip report. We had intended loosing the car in SF and are now considering not having it in San Diego either.

[danisleigh]

We have booked a road trip for next August/sept and we start in Vegas for 4 nights and have booked a trip to the grand canyon south rim. We have booked with canton tours and are staying at ceasars palace. We then have 3 nights in Anaheim, 3 in LA, 1 in pismo beach, 1 in Monterey, 2 in Yosemite and 2 in San Fran. We have left San Diego for another time.

[JudyC]

If you do want to have the car in San Diego I'd consider picking it up in Vegas. You can drive the back roads via the Joshua Tree national park to San Diego.

[Stan1805]

Originally Posted by danisleigh

We have booked a road trip for next August/sept and we start in Vegas for 4 nights and have booked a trip to the grand canyon south rim. We have booked with canton tours and are staying at ceasars palace. We then have 3 nights in Anaheim, 3 in LA, 1 in pismo beach, 1 in Monterey, 2 in Yosemite and 2 in San Fran. We have left San Diego for another time.

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Looks similar to our trip. Just need to get booking it now.

[Stan1805]

Originally Posted by JudyC

If you do want to have the car in San Diego I'd consider picking it up in Vegas. You can drive the back roads via the Joshua Tree national park to San Diego.

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I will have a look at that but but don’t really want to have to drive from LV to San Diego. I will definitely give it some thought though.Thank you

[jdouds]

Hi would perhaps drive to san diego , wouldn't add a day there although it is very good, would go direct from solvang to Monterey 4 hours at a leasurly pace with stops.must do whale watching if possible. This is where we would change your plan from Monterey drive to yosemite and stay 1/2 nights to get the benefit and then to San Fran . One word of warning you may have to get bussed to park depending on snow levels. The reason we suggest to go and stay is that it's a 3 plus hour drive each way so you are looking at a 10/12 hour day.

[smithlane]

I wouldn’t stop between Solvang and Monterey and add a night onto Monterey instead.
We did it the other way round this summer. It’s a long but stunning drive up the PCH, take your time and stop at various look outs. I can highly recommend Pfeiffer Beach as one of them, $12 to park but hands down the most beautiful of all the beaches we visited this year.
Take a look at my trip report in my signature for photos

[Stan1805]

Originally Posted by jdouds

Hi would perhaps drive to san diego , wouldn't add a day there although it is very good, would go direct from solvang to Monterey 4 hours at a leasurly pace with stops.must do whale watching if possible. This is where we would change your plan from Monterey drive to yosemite and stay 1/2 nights to get the benefit and then to San Fran . One word of warning you may have to get bussed to park depending on snow levels. The reason we suggest to go and stay is that it's a 3 plus hour drive each way so you are looking at a 10/12 hour day.

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Thank you for replying. Others have also suggested driving from Vegas to San Diego so we are looking into that. We weren’t sure how long the drive would take from Solvang to Monterey with all the stops along the way which is why we put a query overnight in. Our issue is not wanting to drive when it is dark.